Audio Fiction with Fred - Week 1

Week 1! Intro to Audio Fiction, radio drama history, audio scriptwriting 101

Welcome to Audio Fiction with Fred!

In the first week’s course, we cover:

Introduction to Fred
Overview of modern audio fiction including a dive into radio drama history in the USA 1930s – present
Audio scriptwriting – what makes an audio script work and what differentiates it from other media

Recommended Listening

ALL OF THIS IS OPTIONAL. If you see something that jazzes you, go for it. No pressure. Most of these are picked for their relevance in the grand history of radio and illustrating production techniques over time.

Probably my #1 pick for you to listen by Friday, if you have 10 minutes, Roger Gregg’s sketch on what makes a radio script, a radio script – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfPnacBKA0k
1hour – “On a Note of Triumph” by Norman Corwin – https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4668028 – Corwin was one of the true greats of the golden age of American radio, bringing a level of poetry to the form and pushing its boundaries. He is one of the very few radio creators to have works with historical significance, this one in particular as it commemorated the end of WW2 in Europe. Far from a rah-rah victory speech, it is a deep meditation on the sacrifices and meaning of war, especially interesting to consider given how differently America talks about its place in the world in 2020.
55 minutes – the original “War of the Worlds” by Orson Welles – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzC3Fg_rRJM – honestly the long shadow of WotW and countless remakes have burned me out personally, but, there is no doubting the importance of this show which perfectly captured the anxiety of the moment and shocked the world, and is one of the few radio events that remains strongly in public consciousness (who will create the Covid-era equivalent?) — for a fresh take on the concept, see the 2014 Wireless Theatre DEAD LONDON – https://www.wirelesstheatrecompany.co.uk/product/dead-london/
23mins – “The Thing on the Fourble Board” Quiet Please – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3DPsMrcjJ4 – FOR PEOPLE WHO LIKE SCARY STUFF. One of the most terrifying scripts from the old time era. Also in this vein, SORRY, WRONG NUMBER, THREE SKELETON KEY, and MARS IS HEAVEN. For extra fun hear David Rheinstrom and Gabriel Urbina’s commentary on this show –https://www.radiodramarevival.com/episode-442-going-deep-gabriel-david-thing-fourble-board/
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – only 1 min sample seems to be available online – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew58TUFNF5g – Audible has the full thing (Look for Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Primary Phase) – for fans of Douglas Adams, there’s nothing quite like the source material. Also, consider the quantum leap between live-to-air radio dramas and having access to layers of sound design, effects, etc.
Other interesting works
- There is a great collection “60 greatest radio shows” by Waler Cronkite but it’s really old (cassette!) and hard to find, however you can find the discography here: https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-60-Greatest-Old-Time-Radio-Shows-Of-The-20th-Century-Selected-By-Walter-Cronkite/release/4709902 and many of these shows are available on YouTube and elsewhere
- Firesign Theater – wildly experimental comedy albums of counterculture America 1960s and 70s. some of the earliest adventures into layered multi-track studio recordings, with some wildly hilarious monologues – http://www.firesigntheatre.com/
- STAN FREBERG! https://www.radiodramarevival.com/episode-410-stan-freberg-retrospective/
- BBC’s treatment of Lord of the Rings
- NPR’s Star Wars
- NPR’s A Canticle for Leibowitz
- ZBS – Jack Flanders and Ruby
- Bradbury 13 – 1980s era NPR-funded sci-fi series
- Seeing Ear Theatre, Sci-fi channel (now SyFy) early entry into online audio… WAY ahead of their time and unfortunately now they’re way behind… (sniff, sniff)

Resources

Radio Drama Revival – The modern audio fiction scene is thriving! For some more contemporary examples of great work out there, surf RDR, with over 500 (!) episodes over 13 years, there’s something for everyone! – http://radiodramarevival.com/
Celtx – There are many ways to make a radio script. While various distributors have preferences, I don’t believe there is a ‘right’ format. The script is really just a blueprint, what matters is the thing you build out of the component parts.

I prefer to use a screenplay-style for my scripts, and I’ll discuss my philosophy about what to put in an audio script in my course.

While I use Final Draft software, Celtx offers a very similar suite of features with a Free basic plan, which is pretty great.
Springhole (Idea Generator) – https://www.springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/plotgens.htm – OK so we need to come up with some ideas for short-form radio scripts to make in this class. FULL DISCLAIMER – I just randomly discovered this on the internet and hope there are not any weird scary things you can get to from this website. It seems to have some pretty hilarious and ludicrous plot generators so hopefully that helps you nail a story concept.
Sample Script – THE BLOODY MESS. This very silly story gives you a walkthrough of all of the elements of a short audio script and wraps up in 7-8 minutes, so it’s roughly the same scope of what I’m hoping students will be able to create with me in this course. In fact, as a learning process for myself I’ll be creating a new version of this show myself during our work together. The story structure of BLOODY MESS is pretty straightforward, but as we’ll discuss in the class, audio offers the ability to really mess with time, point of view, storyteller, and narrative structure.

Download “The Bloody Mess” (PDF)
Bloody Mess - FINAL-2020-4-28